order

n 1: (often plural) a command given by a superior (e.g., a

military or law enforcement officer) that must be

obeyed; "the British ships dropped anchor and waited for

orders from London"

2: a degree in a continuum of size or quantity; "it was on the

order of a mile"; "an explosion of a low order of

magnitude" [syn: {order of magnitude}]

3: established customary state esp. of society; "order ruled in

the streets"; "law and order" [ant: {disorder}]

4: logical or comprehensible arrangement of separate elements

of a group; "we shall consider these questions in the

inverse order of their presentation" [syn: {ordering}]

5: a condition of regular or proper arrangement: "he put his

desk in order"; "put the chessmen in order" [syn: {orderliness}]

[ant: {disorderliness}, {disorderliness}]

6: a legally binding command or decision entered on the court

record (as if issued by a court or judge); "a friend in

New Mexico said that the order caused no trouble out

there" [syn: {decree}, {edict}, {fiat}, {rescript}]

7: a commercial document used to request someone to supply

something in return for payment; "IBM received an order

for a hundred computers" [syn: {purchase order}]

8: a formal association of people with similar interests; "he

joined a golf club"; "they formed a small lunch society";

"men from the fraternal order will staff the soup kitchen

today" [syn: {club}, {society}, {guild}, {gild}, {lodge}]

9: a body of rules followed by an assembly [syn: {rules of

order}, {parliamentary law}, {parliamentary procedure}]

10: (biology) taxonomic group containing one or more families

11: putting in order; "there were mistakes in the ordering of

items on the list" [syn: {ordering}]

v 1: tell somebody to do something; "I said to him to go home";

"She ordered him to do the shopping" [syn: {tell}, {enjoin},

{say}]

2: make a request for something; "Order me some flowers";

"order a work stoppage"

3: issue commands or orders for [syn: {prescribe}, {dictate}]

4: impose regulations on [syn: {regulate}, {regularize}, {govern}]

[ant: {deregulate}]

5: bring order to or into; "Order these files" [ant: {disorder}]

6: place in a certain order; "order these files"

7: of clerical posts; "he was ordained in the Church" [syn: {ordain},

{consecrate}]

8: arrange thoughts, ideas, temporal events, etc.; "arrange my

schedule;" "set up one's life"; "I put these memories with

those of bygone times" [syn: {arrange}, {set up}, {put}]

9: assign a rank or rating to; "how would you rank these

students?" [syn: {rate}, {rank}, {range}, {grade}, {place}]